This invention relates generally to a system and method for displaying search results generated from a search to a user and in particular to a system and method for visually displaying the search results wherein the time that a graphical representation of a search result is viewed is based on a ranking of the search result.
Typically, a piece of search software or search engine may accept a user""s search query, process the search query and then return a list of the search results, such as web sites or documents, that match the query. In most typical search engines, the search results are ranked according to some predetermined ranking metric. Using the ranking results, the search results presented to the user are listed in descending order with the most highly ranked (often associated with most relevant) web sites/documents first and the lowest ranked web sites/documents last. The ranking permits the user to quickly review the most relevant web sites/documents without having to surf through the entire search results. The ranking typically may reflect the relevance of the document/web site to the query term. For example, the document/web site with the most occurrences of the query term may be ranked as highly relevant while a document with a single occurrence of the query term may be the lowest ranked document/web site.
The ranking of the search results hopefully reduces the total number of search results that the user must review since the user hopefully find the appropriate search results more rapidly. However, the user must still click on each of the matching web sites/documents and review them (e.g., surf through the search results) in order to determine the actual usefulness of the returned search results. The process of surfing through the search results is very slow since the user must select each web page/document to review, launch the appropriate software application, such as Word or a browser, and then look at the search result. Other conventional search engines may present the search results in a slightly different format, but still typically provide the user with textual information about each search result. For example, some search engines may return a map of different terms that are related to the query term in order to help the user navigate through the search results. However, none of the above conventional search engines/systems permit a user to graphically view each web site/document as part of the search results. It is therefore desirable to provide a user with a graphical representation of each search result (web page or document) and to rank those graphical search results so that a user may more easily review and analyze the search results. Thus, it is desirable to provide a graphical search results system and method and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.
In accordance with the invention, a graphical search results system is provided. The system permits the user to view a graphical representation of the search results so that the user is more able to rapidly locate a pertinent web page or document. In more detail, the system creates, stores and graphically renders web-based xe2x80x9csearch engine resultsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csearch engine results of preconstructed queries known as Agentsxe2x80x9d as an ordered sequence of graphical frames separated by a predetermined, variable time interval. Each frame may be a visible portion of a web page to be rendered and shown to the user. The actual predetermined time interval for the display of each frame is determined based on the relevance or score of the hyperlink (search result) to which the frame refers.
In accordance with the invention, the system provides xe2x80x9cSurf Resultsxe2x80x9d to the user. The Surf Results are a rendered image provided to the end user as if he/she was surfing through the results of a search in a web browser. The surfing may be a timed sequence of web pages that emulate a user""s interaction with a web browser. The system may include an ability to xe2x80x9cfast-forwardxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9creversexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cspeed-upxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cslow-downxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpausexe2x80x9d the sequence of frames being shown to the user which is similar functionality to a VCR.
Thus, in accordance with the invention, a system and method for visually displaying a graphical presentation of the actual search results based on a search query is provided. In accordance with the invention, a graphical frame representing the search result is generated and a predetermined display time for each search result is determined to determine the time during which the graphical frame is to be displayed based on a score associated with the particular search result. The graphical frames are combined to form a graphical presentation of the search results. The graphical presentation of the search results is then displayed to a user wherein each graphical frame of the graphical presentation is displayed to the user for the predetermined display time associated with that graphical frame so that the user sees the more relevant search results for a longer period of time.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system and method for generating a graphical presentation of search results based on a search query is provided in which a graphical frame is generated for each search result. Then, for each search result, a predetermined display time is determined during which the graphical frame is to be displayed based on a score associated with the particular search result. Finally, the graphical frames are combined together to form a graphical presentation of the search results, wherein each graphical frame of the graphical presentation is displayed to the user for the predetermined display time associated with that graphical frame so that the user sees the more relevant search results for a longer period of time.
The foregoing features and advantages of the invention will become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.